page_title: Texacephale
section_title: Discovery
hierarchical_section_title: Texacephale / Discovery
caption_attribution_description: English: Referred frontoparietal dome of the small pachycephalosaur Texacephale langstoni (Dinosauria: Ornithischia: Pachycephalosauridae) found on the ground in the Aguja Formation, Big Bend National Park, west Texas, USA. Photograph by Nick Longrich
context_page_description: Texacephale is a pachycephalosaurid dinosaur from the Campanian stage of the Late Cretaceous. Its fossils come from the Aguja Formation of Big Bend National Park, in Texas, and were described in 2010 by Longrich, Sankey and Tanke. The generic name means Texas + "head" in reference to its place of discovery, and the specific name honors Wann Langston.
context_section_description: The holotype specimen of Texacephale, LSUMNS 20010, is composed of fused frontals and parietals. A second specimen, LSUMNS 20012, is composed of an incomplete frontoparietal dome. It was found in the same WPA quarries that produced Agujaceratops, and may have been exavated and tossed aside, being mistaken for a rock or concretion, before being picked up decades later.  According to the team, the fossilized dome of the animal possessed five to six vertical flanges on each lateral side, connecting it with the postorbital bone. The team interpreted these structures as interlocking "gears" that would help deal with stress on the bone during head-butting, a hypothetical behavior that had earlier been challenged by other authors.
caption: Texacephale langstoni dome discovered in the Aguja Formation
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